The Baltimore mother who was filmed dragging her teenage son home from a riot has told how she was stunned when talk show host Oprah Winfrey called up congratulate her.

Toya Graham, 42, was hailed 'mom of the year' after being caught on camera clobbering her 16-year-old son Michael, pulling off his ski mask and chasing after him during Monday's violence.

But the single mother was almost lost for words when talk show legend Oprah called her up at home to offer her support.

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Celebrity support: Baltimore mother Toya Graham, pictured left with son Michael who she was filmed dragging home from a riot, was stunned to get a phone call from Oprah Winfrey

Flashpoint: Graham went down to where the riots were taking place after hearing schools had been let out early. She said she recognized her son's baggy sweatpants and 'lost it'

Speaking on Inside Edition Miss Graham revealed: 'My oldest daughter was actually on the phone. She was like, "Ma, Oprah wants to talk to you," and I couldn’t hear exactly everything she was saying because I was like, "Oh my God, Oh my God".

'She actually took the time out to give me a call, just to say, "I understand why you did what you did".

'She talked about how she understands as a parent, as a single mom, what I was faced up against.

'I just wanted to thank her for taking the opportunity to call me because I don’t feel like a hero

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Miss Graham told CBS on Wednesday that she 'just lost it' when she saw Michael at Monday's riots carrying a rock and walking towards police officers.

She said: 'I recognized those baggy sweatpants and we made eye contact. I was saying ''how dare you do this?'''

Her son immediately lost his tough-guy swagger as his mother pulled the ski mask from his head, slapped him upside the head and yelled: 'Are you for real? Really? This is what you want to do?

'I told you I'd come down here. Didn't I? Didn't I?'

She added: 'That's my only son and at the end of the day, I don't want him to be a Freddie Gray.

Miss Graham had to overcome her own share of trouble and heartbreak living amid criminality and chaos in one of the city's toughest neighborhoods.

She has had several brushes with the law herself but has avoided having a criminal record like so many of her peers.

'When I heard 'put that brick down' I was like 'oh that's my mama!': Michael Graham spoke about his surprise at seeing his mother in the midst of Monday's protests

Son: Michael Graham has been in trouble, his mother acknowledged. He posted this image on a social media profile, with what appears to be a handgun and a joint

Michael Graham, 16, the boy caught on camera being clobbered by his mom for trying to join in Monday's rioting in Baltimore has said he wanted to join in because friends of his have been 'beaten and killed' by police

She has kept all her kids together in a tightly-knit, loving family despite having to take a string of men to court for failing to provide for them.

'I can't imagine what Freddie Gray's mother is going through. I don't want to lose my son to the streets. Is he a perfect boy? No, he's not. But he's mine.'

She added: 'A lot of his friends have been killed. I just want to keep him in the house, but that's not really going to work.

'He's been in trouble before. He knows right from wrong but he's just like other teens, he doesn't have the perfect relationship with the police in Baltimore.'

Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts mentioned Graham's heroics when he spoke at a press conference shortly before midnight on Monday.

Batts said: 'In one scene you had a mother who grabbed a child who had a hood on his head and started smacking him on the head because she was so embarrassed.

'I wish there were more parents out there who took charge of their kids tonight.'

He later added: 'Take control of your kids. This is our city, let's make a difference.'

In an exclusive interview with Daily Mail Online, Toya's older brother Robert Graham told how the pair were raised in Baltimore's gang-ridden Park Heights neighborhood.

Bond: The message Michael Graham posted on his own social networking site for his mother, Toya, who is being called 'America's best mom' for dragging him away from the Baltimore riots

Mutual love: What Toya Graham posted about Michael last Thanksgiving. She said he had been in trouble but he 'knows right from wrong'.

Part of the family: Toya Graham with her niece, Shamaya, 11 and great niece Dominique, seven months, at a birthday celebration

Their father, Robert Lewis Graham, now 71, was a home improvement contractor while mom Cynthia worked as a nurse while trying to keep Toya, Robert, their sister Toni and brother Damion, out of trouble.

'Oh man it was rough,' recalled Robert, 47. 'We called it B-More - as in, be more careful when you walk the streets.

'As kids we were jumping off roofs, running into stores and snatching bags. We would be playing football with the different blocks and getting into gang fights.

What Toya did on that video I have seen many a days. My mom would have done the same thing if she saw us throwing rocks at the police

Her brother Robert Graham

'That's what everyone was doing. It was the norm growing up in Baltimore.

'But if a neighbor saw us doing something, they could grab us up and march us to the house.

'We would get in trouble and we would get punished. It was a community back then that policed its children.

'If you did something wrong they were able to put their hands on you, discipline you and take you home to your parents - where you got disciplined a second time.

'What Toya did on that video I have seen many a days.

'My mom would have done the same thing if she saw us throwing rocks at the police.'

Robert recalled how the family struggled to make ends meet in the bleak economic climate of the late 70s and 80s with Robert Senior unable to find regular work.

He also revealed how, as young children, they suffered the trauma of watching their own house burn down when an attempt to light and heat the four-bed property with propane turned to disaster.

Close: Toya Graham, dubbed 'America's best mom' with her son Michael, who she dragged away from the riots in Baltimore. She said she was 'shocked' and 'angry' at what she saw her child doing

Trouble: Michael posted this image of an ankle bracelet on social media, suggesting he was wearing it.

Pride: Robert Graham, Toya's brother, said his sister was his mother's favorite and had followed her example by working hard - but fell into depression when their mother died suddenly in 1996.

'My father was out of work and there was no work anywhere in the State of Maryland,' recalled Robert.

'My mother was a very hard-working, lovely woman who took care of us the best she could.

'But she went through some strenuous times. With no money there was a period when the lights got cut off.

'So we had to use one of those camping burners. I was loading the propane into the cylinder one night when it spilled. It caught on fire and we couldn't put it out.

'I said 'let's go' and we all ran out of there. We stood outside and watched the house burn down right before our eyes while we waited for the fire department.'

Robert recalls how Toya was her mother's favorite and excelled in school despite their struggles.

He, however, would not fare so well and at age 17 was sent to jail for offences including attempted murder.

He had turned 30 by the time he was released from jail but since then the dad-of-four says he has never re-offended.

'Toya was always momma's favorite girl and she didn't get into trouble,' he told Daily Mail Online. 'She was the baby girl, she got all of the attention.

'She was always a happy person, she got along with people. She did very well at school. Me and my friends would be running the halls but she was always in class where she should be.

'I'd didn't get to see her finish school or witness her accomplishments because I was in prison. But when I came out she was doing OK.'

Affection: Toya Graham said that her son 'knew right from wrong' but that he had been in trouble before

Carnage: Police advance into a barrage of rocks, bricks and bottles while a car is set on fire during Monday night's riots in Baltimore

Caught on camera: Looters fill their arms with items from the shelves of an unknown store during Monday's riots in Baltimore

Robert says Toya fell into depression, however, after their mom died suddenly because of a brain aneurysm in 1996.

Public records show she has had a number of brushes with the courts but does not have a criminal record. In the context of Baltimore and the claims of heavy-handed policing of poor black areas, there are few people without any arrests.

The most serious incident she was involved in happened in 2002 when she was charged with second degree assault, reckless endangerment and use of a deadly weapon.

Court records list her plea as 'other' and do not say what the punishment was.

However the file also says that it was 'Noelle Prosequi' - which means 'we shall no longer prosecute' - suggesting the matter was dropped by the Baltimore District Attorney.

Graham has also been involved in paternity battles with at least two of the three men with whom she has had her children, who range in age from their teens to early 20s.

'Everyone goes through a time when they have problems and fall into depression,' Robert said.

''Toy really had a hard time when my mom passed away. She really struggled. There were things that happened.

'There was a time our sister Toni had custody of the kids and Toy fought to get herself back to where she needed to be.

'But my father, my older sister and her pastor all got her through it.

'She turned to the church. She became an usher, she started attending bible classes. She started working on her life.

In an Instagram video from two months ago, Michael posed in a very similar outfit with face mask and dark clothing to what he was wearing on Monday

'She was soon telling me what to do and what not to do, telling me to get myself together

'It's like she became a mother figure herself to us all. I'm older than her but she still thinks she's my mother.'

Robert, who does not work because of a heart problem, says that same motherly instinct drove Toya to so publicly tackle her son outside Mondawmin mall.

The riots broke out following the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray earlier this month who died of a spinal cord injury after being taken into custody by Baltimore police.

Toya was filmed by a local TV news crew as she struck him several times and chased him down the street as rioters clashed with police, looted stores and burned down buildings and cars.

'Michael is a very respectful, humble young man. He did good in school,' said Robert.

He took it upon himself to defy his mother. So any consequences that followed are on him. Michael could have got hurt. And Baltimore police, they don't forgive and they don't forget.

Robert Graham

'Recently he had to go to court and it changed him a little bit. From that point she was determined to stop him going down a different path.

'She would keep him close to the house. He wasn't able to go anywhere.

'There are three different gangs in Baltimore - and they are always recruiting.

'She did not want him to be affiliated with that. At any given day you can see someone lying in the street here with police tape around him.

'But she still has to go to work, she can't watch Michael 24/7.

'He actually told her that they were going to gather down at Mondawmin. She told him not to go down there.

'He took it upon himself to defy his mother. So any consequences that followed are on him.

'Michael could have got hurt. And Baltimore police, they don't forgive and they don't forget.

'If he had been caught on camera doing some bad stuff like some of the others, they would be out there now tracking him down and locking him up.

'They still have the option to prosecute any time but I don't think they will because she did what she did as a concerned parent.

'I believe she saved his life. She deserves this praise - more parents should be out there doing the same.'